The present invention relates to an adjustable housing assembly for use on a slide gate or sliding closure unit for controlling the discharge of molten metal from a metallurgical vessel. More particularly the present invention relates to such an adjustable housing assembly of the type including a housing member to be mounted on the metallurgical vessel adjacent a molten metal outlet thereof, and a cover member mounted on the housing member by means of joints to enable the cover member to pivot with respect to the housing member and to be removable therefrom.
Sliding closure units normally are mounted on the bottoms of metallurgical vessels. Depending upon the local conditions of a particular installation, such as for example the extent and location of adjusting legs and ribs on the bottom of the vessel adjacent the particular location of the molten metal discharge therefrom and the relative position of the metallurgical vessel in the overall installation, the mounting of the sliding closure units causes considerable problems. Thus, it is difficult to find a favorable and optimal mounting location for the sliding closure unit and its drive unit, since often there is not sufficient space available for the necessary pivoting of a cover member of the housing assembly of the sliding closure unit to enable rapid and thorough maintenance thereof. Often, it is necessary to incorporate design changes in the overall installation to allow for necessary space to achieve such functions. West German Patent DE-PS 29 41 027 discloses a rotary sliding closure unit including a housing assembly having a cover member pivoted upwardly selectively from two opposite sides of a housing member by releasing one of two opposed pairs of hinge pins. However, the above described difficulties are not entirely solved by this apparatus.